The Thrill of Victory After 310 Tries

No. 1 for a night: Caltech's basketball team started losing before these guys were born.

March Madness is almost upon us. And for NCAA Division III teams the bracket is already out.

One school that will navigate the weird 61-team draw to experience the thrills of winning it all (I'm hoping it's my alma mater).

But, it's hard to imagine the feeling will be greater than what a fellow DIII school experienced last Tuesday.

Caltech, known for its brains not its brawn, won its first league basketball game in 310 tries. That's 26 years of being a doormat.

I've played on my fair share of bad teams from little league to high school and college intramurals, but I can't fathom a lifetime of conference losing.

The streak dated back to Jan. 23, 1985, before its current players were even born.

Google bound Ryan Elmquist hit the winning free-throw with 3.3 seconds left lifting his team to the 46-45 win over Occidental, starting a completely appropriate storming of the court celebration.

Caltech ended its season with five wins in all, none bigger than the fifth.

Oregon's New Court Gets Lost in the Woods

Go behind the scenes of the new Matthew Knight Arena.

The University of Oregon should probably just renamed itself Nike U.

Nike's co-founder Phil Knight was a Duck. Thanks to his riches they have the most unique football uniforms in the country and can now lay claim the most unique basketball court in the college ranks.

Kilkenny Floor, named after long-time UO athletics supporter Pat Kilkenny, is framed by a forest of trees inspired by the Pacific Northwest's landscape and the Ducks 1939 national title team nicknamed "The Tall Firs."

Nike's always pushing the design envelope and rather than making the court bright yellow, the symbolism stands out.

Why the court will be recognizable on any TV set, I think there's one issue. Of the few highlights I saw from the Ducks home opener, a 68-62 victory over USC, I couldn't focus on the plays. My eyes were memorized by the court.

The Ducks slogan in the center of the court, "Deep in the Woods," is meant to intimidate opposing teams.

Rather I think they'll get "lost in the woods" playing on those tall firs. That's really the point, creating an unbeatable home court advantage.

The Pac-1?

If you happen to glance at any March Madness bracket projections, you're sure to notice at least one thing. The premiere basketball conference in the West is absent.

The Pac-10 is dreadful this year.

Entering Saturday's games there was a glut of teams boasting a 6-4 record, all tied for first place. So is it possible the Pac-10 could have just one entry in the field of 64?

It's possible, but not probable.

I can't see the Pac-10 receiving fewer bids than the WCC (likely Gonzaga, St. Mary's), especially since the trend has been away from mid-majors getting at-large bids. Middling power teams like Arizona and Minnesota grabbed the final spots last year.

Currently, Cal is the clear favorite, Arizona's surge gives them life (having made 25 straight NCAA tournaments they could get a sympathy bid) and Washington, who briefly cracked the top-10, is sneaking back into consideration.

Rather than breakdown who could make the dance, the better question is why is the conference so down?

The answer is clear if you look at the last few NBA drafts. The league has been decimated by early entries into the pro-ranks.

The past two seasons, eight athletes from Pac-10 teams have been lottery picks. That's likely unprecedented.

USC's O.J. Mayo lead the 2008 class which also saw UCLA's Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love be selected in the top five. Arizona State's James Harden headed the '09 group which saw another five early entrants get drafted.

It's hard to recover when a league loses 21 players to the NBA in two years, 14 of whom left school early.

Imagine if Stanford still had the Lopez brothers; UCLA was starting the likes of Love, Westbrook and Jrue Holiday; USC still had Mayo, Taj Gibson and DeMar DeRozan and Arizona had Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill for their senior years?

The conference would be the deepest in the country, while devouring itself in league play.

That's happening again this year, but teams are being consumed by mediocracy. I don't expect that to last for long.

Shades of 'Carolina' blue

Carolina fans had a bit of a dilemma Saturday. Support the Tar Heels on the gridiron or support the Tar Heels on the hardwood. Both Chapel Hill teams were in action at the same time.

But, this should have been an easy choice. The "true" UNC fans were watched their No. 1 ranked men's basketball team tip-off.

Sadly it's that time of year already. Men's NCAA basketball, one sport in a litany that start too early, has tipped-off.

So, if you need the skinny on man-to-man defense and other hoops trends to get into the basketball mood, SI.com's Luke Winn reports on 50 things he learned about basketball ideology. Including that Nike dominates the college scene with 72 percent of schools wearing the Swoosh.

As for what to expect this season, fellow blogger Colin Storm delivers his annual college basketball thesis.. I mean preview. Check it out at Eye of Storm.

Similarly, SI.com gives the inside scoop with their Top 20 scouting reports.

FoxSports.com's Jeff Goodman takes a look at the preseason Top 25 and calls the North Carolina Tar Heels the total package.

And if you want a look at what the experts think the field of 65 will be, ESPN has the projections. Analyst Dick Vitale has his awesome predictions, while Joe Lunardi already has Bracketology revved up.

Enjoy the early season tournaments!